>We have occasionally observed by chance that indeed there are
>authors, who submit the same contribution twice. A recent case
>was only detected when the editor of one of our journals
>received a manuscript from the author and within that week a
>review request from the editor of another publisher's journal
>for the same paper. The author got very strong letters from
>both editors and both journals rejected publication.
>>Dr. Rainer Stumpe
>Chemistry Editorial
>Springer-Verlag
Wow! Big deal! A "very strong letter"!!
Were copies of the letter sent to the authors Head of Department-Dean-
Principal?
Were copies of the letter sent to the Office of Scientific Integrity at
the NIH (in the case of a US author)?
And what if you had sent copies to these places? Let us take this in steps.
Let us say that one submits to 3-4 journals. Two of them accept it. One then
can withdraw the paper from one journal (perhaps the less prestigeous), so
there is no literature overload. But suppose one omits to do this. So two
copies of the paper appear in the world literature. Administrators and the OSI
would only be concerned if one cited BOTH papers in ones list of publications,
thus giving the false impression of great productivity. If one only cited one
paper then this would not arise.
Thus, I repeat, multiple submissions with the goal solely of getting
expeditious publication should work, provided everyone does not "cheat" in
this way and overload the system. That extra paper by the grant or tenure
deadline, might be critical if one is near a cut-off point. If one does not do
it perhaps the other guy will? The present system will reward the "cheater"
who looks after his/her own immediate self-interest. I have suggested ways of
remedying the situation and some contributors to this bulletin board have
suggested others.[As a disclaimer, I repeat that I never have, and do not
intend to engage in multiple submissions.]
Sincerely, Don Forsdyke (Discussion Leader)